1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical card processing apparatus for handling a card-shaped information recording medium on which information can be optically recorded (to be referred to as an optical card herebelow) so as to record information thereon and/or to reproduce (read) information written thereon, and in particular, to an optical card processing apparatus having a function to judge a setting state or a disposition State Of an optical card therein for a determination of a normal state or an abnormal state.
2. Description of Related Art
The conventional optical card processing apparatus of this kind comprises, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a shuttle 2 for supporting an optical card 1 inserted thereonto from a card insertion slit (not shown), an optical head 3 for irradiating a converged light onto the optical card 1 to record information thereon and/or to reproduce information recorded thereon (the intensity of the irradiated light varies between the recording and reproducing operations), and a carrier or transporting mechanism 4 for reciprocating the shuttle 2. In this regard, although not shown, there is also included a mechanism for moving the optical head 3 in a direction orthogonal to the direction of the reciprocating movement of the shuttle 2.
The optical card 1 includes, as shown in a partially magnified diagram of FIG. 6a, an information recording section 6 (a hatched portion) having a surface on which a lot of information recording tracks 5 are disposed. The optical head 3 irradiates the converged light onto these information recording tracks 5 for the information recording and reproducing operations. In this configuration, a reference numeral 7 indicates a track guide to be used by the optical head 3 for tracing the information recording tracks 5 and a numeral 8 denotes pits constituting a unit of information written on the tracks 5. The track guide 7 and the pits 8 are associated with a light reflection factor relatively lower than one developed in portions of the card after than the track guide 7 and pits.
FIG. 6b shows a rear surface of the optical card 1. In the rear and front surfaces of the card 1, blank regions 9 may be adopted by the user to present a logotype or logo mark in conformity with the user's specification.
The shuttle 2 includes a depression 10 disposed on an upper surface thereof and clamp mechanisms 11 and 12. The optical card 1 is arranged in the shuttle 2 along a direction in which the card is fed so as to be fixed by means of the clamp mechanisms 11 and 12.
The transporting mechanism 4 includes guide shafts 16 and 17 for guiding and for supporting the shuttle 2 via bearings 13 to 15 disposed on the shuttle 2 to allow a reciprocating movement of the shuttle 2 and a driver unit 19 for reciprocating the shuttle 2 by means of a transporting belt 18. The driver unit 19 transfers power from a motor 20 via a pulley 21 on a driving side and a power transfer belt 22 to a driving pulley 23. The transporting belt 18 is reeved between the driving pulley 23 and a pulley 24 subordinate thereto so as to be linked with the shuttle 2. When the belt 18 starts running, the shuttle 2 is set to a reciprocating movement.
With the above-described arrangement, when the optical card 1 is inserted from the card inlet, the card 1 is taken into the depressed portion 10 on the shuttle 2 to be kept therein. Next, the motor 20 drives the transporting belt 18 in a running state to move the shuttle 2. After the card 1 is aligned at a predetermined position, the optical head 3 is activated to emit a converged light onto the information recording section 6 of the optical card 1 for an information recording or reproducing operation.
The information recording and reproducing operations on the optical card 1 are accomplished on assumption that the card 1 is appropriately set onto the shuttle 2. Particularly, it is necessary that the optical card 1 is arranged correctly with respect to the front or rear side and to a forward or reverse direction of the card 1.
Conventionally, when confirming the presence or absence of the optical card 1 in the shuttle 2, there has been disposed a special device such as a micro switch in the processing apparatus, which however leads to a problem that the number of parts becomes greater and hence the cost as well as the size of the apparatus is increased.
To cope with the problem above, there has been described a method in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-280073. In this method, based on the difference between the light reflection factors respectively of the information recording section 6 and the blank area 9 of the optical card 1, the intensity of the reproduced signal level is detected for each of the recording section 6 and the blank area 9, thereby judging to determine the setting state of the optical card 1 in the apparatus.
However, depending on materials and colors of the information recording section 6 and the blank region 9 of the optical card 1, the difference between the light reflection factors respectively of the recording section 6 and the blank region 9 becomes quite small. In this situation, there rarely appears the difference between the magnitudes of the reproduced signals associated with the section 6 and the region 9. For example, the blank region 9 having white as its base color develops a reflection factor of at least 30%. On the other hand, there is obtained a reflection factor of about 40%.+-.5% on the information recording section 6 having a recording layer which is produced by diffusing particles of silver in a surface of the information recording section 6 through an exposure and thermal treatment by use of a halogenated silver emulsion containing fine particles of silver. Consequently, there appears substantially an equal reflection factors in the blank region 9 and the information recording section 6. If the surface of the optical card 1 is dirty, for example, foreign matter is affixed to the card, the setting or installing state of the optical card 1 cannot be easily determined by use of the magnitudes of the respective reproduced signal levels.